{"id":75109,"date":"2019-05-18T16:56:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T21:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/persian-heritage.com\/wordpress\/?p=75109"},"modified":"2019-05-18T16:56:28","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T21:56:28","slug":"irans-regional-proxies-ensure-it-will-never-fight-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2019\/05\/18\/irans-regional-proxies-ensure-it-will-never-fight-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Regional Proxies Ensure It Will Never Fight Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"VOA – In the event of war with the United States, Iran \u201cwill not be alone.\u201d That message was delivered by the leader of Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah militant group to a mass rally in Beirut in February marking the 40th anniversary of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolution. \u201cIf America launches war on Iran, it will not be alone in the confrontation, because the fate of our region is tied to the Islamic Republic,\u201d Hassan Nasrallah said. From Lebanon and Syria to Iraq, Yemen, and the Gaza Strip, Tehran has significantly expanded its footprint over the past decade, finding and developing powerful allies in conflict-ravaged countries across the Middle East. Hezbollah is one of the most prominent members of the self-styled \u201caxis of resistance,\u201d armed groups with tens of thousands of Shiite Muslim fighters beholden to Tehran.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hezbollah<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The militia, whose Arabic name translates into \u201cParty of God,\u201d was established by Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard during Lebanon\u2019s civil war in the 1980s. Today it is among the most effective armed groups in the region, extending Iran\u2019s influence to Israel\u2019s doorstep.<\/p>\n

In a paper for the Brookings Institute earlier this year, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman described the group as revolutionary Iran\u2019s \u201cmost successful export\u201d and Tehran\u2019s \u201cmultipurpose tool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hezbollah was formed to combat Israel following its invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It waged an 18-year guerrilla war against Israeli forces, eventually forcing them to withdraw from Lebanon in 2000. Six years later, it battled Israel to a bloody stalemate in a monthlong war.<\/p>\n

Today, the group has an arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles than can reach deep into Israel, as well as thousands of highly disciplined and battle-hardened fighters. Hezbollah has fought alongside government forces in Syria for more than six years, gaining even more battlefield experience and expanding its reach.<\/p>\n

At home, the group\u2019s power exceeds that of the Lebanese armed forces, and along with its allies has more power than ever in the parliament and government.<\/p>\n

Despite the rhetoric, Hezbollah says it is not seeking another war with Israel, and it is not likely to join in any regional confrontation — at least not in the early stages — unless provoked. Hezbollah has lost hundreds of fighters in Syria, exacting a heavy toll on the Shiite community from which it draws most of its support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA – In the event of war with the United States, Iran \u201cwill not be alone.\u201d That message was delivered by the leader of Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah militant group to a mass rally in Beirut in February marking the 40th anniversary of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolution. \u201cIf America launches war on Iran, it will not be alone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}